Can we obey God when we don't understand

 Read Genesis 2

 Let’s look at the trees in the garden.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.  The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The trees were pleasing to the eye and good for food.  Remember those words for next week.  Think about it.  Adam could have been the first tree hugger.  Oh, beautiful tree, I love you.  You are pleasing to the eye and good for food. Let me give you a big hug.

Let’s get on with the tree story in Genesis.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Adam didn’t have much life experience.  He didn’t even know about clothes.  Of course, he didn’t have a wife yet to tell him what to wear. He was walking around naked in the garden and God told him if he did this one thing that he will die.

Does Adam understand death?  Does Adam have a concept of what it is to die?  He hasn’t been to a single funeral.  How does he understand death?

All life struggles to live—it’s hard-wired inside us, but do we really understand death.  Even today, we struggle with death.  We live by faith that there is more life to come, but we struggle with death.

So, God told Adam not to do one thing or he will die.  Can Adam really weigh the consequences of this action?

So really, all that Adam had was a command to not eat from this single tree.  Adam has a Thou shalt not and that’s about it. I doubt that he really understands the consequences of disobedience.

Adam only has obedience to wrestle with. He probably can’t comprehend the consequences of disobedience.

If you don’t do your homework, you are grounded for three days—without your phone.  We can understand those consequences.

If you don’t make your car payment, your car gets repossessed.  We understand that.

If you don’t read, study, and work hard while you are in school, you don’t get an education.  I didn’t say that you don’t get a diploma. You don’t get an education. 

For some people, that education is almost as beyond comprehension as death was to Adam.  They can’t do simple math and make a budget.  They never learned how to think and make solid decisions, but I digress, at least for the moment. Let’s get back to the garden.

Adam probably did not understand the concept of death.  He surely understood the command not to eat of the tree. 

It begs the question:  Can we obey when we don’t understand?

I didn’t have to search much for the answer.  Trust in the Lord with…

We are directed to obey even when we can’t understand.  We have some things in common with Adam.

Everything that we know about death we take by faith.  We have been to some funerals.  We have been to visitations, but they have all been on this side of death, at least for us.

Everything we know about life after death comes by faith.

We have faith in the one who spoke everything into existence and gave us commands to do or not do something, that his promises are also true.

We have faith that there is life after death, even though we still don’t comprehend death. Yes, we know that they won’t be here next week.  Better take them off the fellowship team.

We understand that someone isn’t here anymore, but everything we know about death and life after death comes to us by faith.

God’s ways are so much higher than our ways.  God’s thoughts are beyond our comprehension, but we have the mind of Christ.

We can’t comprehend all that God thinks and knows and does, but we have been given enough to live as he wants us to live.  We can take the yoke of our Master and learn from him.

For us, that’s the same as not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil when we can’t understand the consequences.

So, let’s trust in the Lord and in his commands and learn from Jesus our Master, even when, perhaps especially when we don’t understand all of the consequences of our actions.

Amen.